Health Check

June 3, 2019

Contributed by:
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In previous versions of XenServer, customers had to manually generate and upload the server status reports to Citrix Insight Services (CIS). The Health Check feature enables you to automate the process of generating and uploading the server status report to CIS. After enrolling a pool to Health Check, you will receive notifications in XenCenter regarding the health of the pool. This allows you to proactively monitor the health of the XenServer systems based on the report that CIS generates.

In order to use the Health check feature, you should meet the following requirements:

All hosts in the pool should be running XenServer 7.1 CU2 or higher

You should connect to the XenServer pool using XenCenter shipped with XenServer 7.1 CU2 or higher

XenCenter should have access to the internet

The Health Check Service should be installed and running on the XenCenter machine. For more information, see Health Check Service later in this topic.

If using Active Directory (AD), you should have Pool Operator or a higher role

Enrolling a pool to Health Check

When you connect any eligible pool (or standalone hosts) to XenCenter, you will be prompted to enable Health Check. Alternatively, you can select Tools > Health Check from the XenCenter menu at any time to enable Health Check.

To enroll a pool to Health Check, on the Health Check Overview dialog, click Enroll now. This opens the Health Check Enrollment dialog which allows you to configure Health Check settings based on your requirements. The Health Check feature operates at a pool-level. After enrolling a pool to Health Check, all pool members inherit the same configuration. Note that it is not possible to have different settings between hosts in the same pool.

The following sections guide you through the configuration settings you need to provide to enroll your pool to Health Check.

Health check upload schedule

Specify the schedule at which you would like to upload the server status report to CIS. You can specify the frequency, time, and day of the week you would like to automatically upload the server status report to CIS. The Health Check Enrollment dialog displays some values by default. You can modify these values based on your preference. When an upload is due, the Health Check Service generates a server status report and uploads it to CIS. For information about the report content, see Health Check Server Status Report.

Note: You can also generate a health check report on demand. For more information, see the section Uploading server status report on demand.

XenServer Credentials

When the pool is enrolled to Health Check, the Health Check Service periodically connects to the pool and checks whether an upload is due. You must provide XenServer credentials the Health Check Service can use to establish a connection to the pool. You can use existing credentials or specify new credentials in the XenServer Credentials section.

Click Test Credentials to verify the credentials.

Authentication with Citrix Insight Services

To successfully upload the server status report and to retrieve CIS analysis report, you should authenticate your uploads with CIS. To do this, you should provide your MyCitrix credentials. If you do not have a Citrix account, visit www.citrix.com to create a new account. Your Citrix credentials will be used to get an authentication token. The token will be stored on the pool master. MyCitrix credentials will not be stored by XenServer or XenCenter. You can use the same credentials to authenticate multiple pools. If you have previously authenticated with CIS, click on the Use existing authentication button. Click OK to confirm the settings.

Re-authenticating with CIS could solve the issues of repeated failures to upload and failures to retrieve the Health Check analysis reports. To do this, perform the following steps.

From the Tools menu, click on Health Check, and then click Edit Health Check settings.

These credentials will be used to get a new authentication token which will be used in the future to upload the server status report and to retrieve analysis reports.

Viewing CIS analysis reports

After you have successfully enrolled your pool to Health Check, the Health Check Service automatically uploads the server status report based on the settings you have specified during enrollment. A summary of the status will be displayed on the Health Check Overview page. It contains information about the last successful upload and the schedule configured during enrollment.

When the CIS analysis report is ready, you will receive an email notification from CIS. The Health Check Overview dialog also displays any issues detected by CIS and provides a link to the analysis report. Click View report analysis to see the detailed report on the CIS web site.

In addition, the Health Check Overview dialog allows you to perform the following operations:

Request an additional upload now to upload a SSR on demand. For more information, see Uploading Server Status Report on demand.

Uploading server status report on demand

XenCenter generates a server status report and uploads it to CIS based on the schedule configured during Health Check enrollment. If you prefer to perform an on-demand upload for a pool you have enrolled to Health Check:

From the XenCenter menu, select Tools and then Health Check.

On the Health Check Overview dialog, select the pool and then click Request an additional upload now.

Note: There must be a delay of at least 30 minutes between upload requests.

The status of the upload will be displayed on the Health Check Overview page. Click View report analysis to review your report.

Health Check Service

The Health Check Service is installed by default during XenCenter installation. It is responsible for establishing a connection to the XenServer pool using credentials provided during Health Check enrollment. The Health Check Service periodically checks whether an upload is due for a host and initiates report generation and the upload process.

If you chose not to install the Health Check service during XenCenter installation, and you now wish to use the Health Check feature, re-run the XenCenter installer and follow the on-screen instructions. Once the Health Check Service is installed on your XenCenter machine, the service starts up automatically.

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